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As we head into 2019, AfterShock Comics are encouraging comic readers new and old to “Read Dangerously”.
Their new initiative, which names 2019 as ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously’, is set to include a robust advertising and marketing campaign, and will include some exciting new brand activities and initiatives over the course of the year.
Speaking about the announcement, AfterShock’s Publisher and CCO Joe Pruett said “AfterShock was created to push new boundaries by giving the comic world’s most creative writers and artists free reign to blow readers’ minds. As a result, we’ve published some of the industry’s edgiest and most compelling content since our launch in 2015 and inked deals over the past year to bring a few of our flagship titles to the big screen with major studio partners. With groundbreaking new titles set for debut this year, there has never been a better time than right now to discover all that AfterShock has to offer.”
Steve Rotterdam, SVP of Sales and Marketing continued, adding “’Read Dangerously’ emphasizes the caliber of our content. It’s an open invitation to readers looking to break away from the more conventional choices available to them and can also be embraced by retailers in their efforts to reach out and connect to new audiences. And we’re prepared to help them do that.”
The theme will serve as the focal point of the brand’s 2019 marketing campaign, including new ads debuting in late January on the back covers of all titles, targeted digital advertising, podcast sponsorships, local comic shop initiatives, and prominent placement at major conventions throughout the year. Additional plans will be revealed at the ComicsPRO Annual Meeting to be held in Charlotte in late February.
And, with some exciting new titles already announced for this year, including the likes of STRONGHOLD, OBERON, DARK RED, OUT OF THE BLUE and HORDE, to name only a few, this is definitely a new initiative we’re going to be keeping a close eye on here at the Big Comic Page.


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Don't judge a book by its cover. Or, better yet, don't judge one Middle Eastern country by the action of others.
That's the feeling of Adel S. Jamsheer, industrial attache in the Bahrain embassy in Washington, D.C., as he attempts to lure Utah exports and business development to his tiny island country in the Persian Gulf.Jamsheer, who was in Salt Lake City to talk to Utah businesses and address the World Trade Association of Utah with the idea of encouraging them to export to Bahrain, said his country has a stable government, doesn't approve of some extreme groups operating in the area and desires American goods.
"Bahrainians are open-minded and we consider our country as the Hong Kong of the Middle East," said Jamsheer in reply to a question about the flap over "The Satanic Verses."
"Neither the book nor the author deserve the attention they are getting," Jamsheer said. "Because Bahrainians stay away from the extreme issues, we must change people's attitudes about the area so they feel better about exporting to Bahrain and building companies," he said.
Many American businessmen already have visited Bahrain and in 1990 between 300 and 500 businessmen from several countries will be invited to visit Bahrain to examine exporting and business location possibilities.
With only 450,000 people, Bahrain might not be the best market for some types of goods, but it is centrally located in the Persian Gulf and can be used as a distribution center for the entire area, Jamsheer said.
Bahrain is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman. There are 16 million people in the GCC countries, but adding the 112 million people in Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and Iran make it a big potential for sales.
The Iran-Iraq war scared many American businessmen away from doing business in the Middle East, but now the war is over it's time to invite Americans back, he said. When American companies ceased doing business in the area the void was filled by European and Asian companies, Jamsheer said.
He said such American companies as United Parcel Service, McDonnell Douglas and Combustion Engineering Co. are doing business in Bahrain and the Ogden-based Jetway Inc. is helping remodel the Bahrain airport.
To attract business to Bahrain, there is freedom of ownership, full capital and profit repatriation, no foreign exchange control, no tax on imports, duty-free imports on machinery and raw materials, duty-free exemptions on exports to GCC countries and labor costs as low as $1.40 per hour.

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The world’s largest revolutionary electronic manufacturer, Apple has launched the next generation of the iPhone at the annual event in San Francisco – the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus.
At a launch event, the company released an upgraded version that is somewhat similar to the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with differences like a better camera, an improved battery life, a pressure-sensitive home button, a faster processor, water resistant as well as no headphone jack. The iPhone 7 also comes in a starting size of 32 GB and a new range of colors.
The camera has been upgraded to take even sharper photos and enhance the low-light capabilities. The 4.7-inch iPhone has a f/1.8 lens that lets 50 percent extra light onto the lens, a new 12MP sensor that’s 30 percent more energy efficient and 60 percent faster. A 5.5 inch iPhone has dual 12MP cameras, that can zoom 2X in high quality. Both the models have 4k video recording capability, which will enable live editing of the video files.
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will have the longest battery life ever in an iPhone. An iPhone 7 lasts, two hours longer than an iPhone 6s while an hour longer than an iPhone 6s plus. An iPhone 7 plus’s battery lasts 15 hours when using WiFI and 4G. Meanwhile, an iPhone 7 lasts 14 hours on WiFi and 12 on 4G.
Apple has also introduced two new shades of black and two colors for the new iPhone to replace space gray. The new models will be available in five different colors that are silver, gold, rose gold, matte black, and glossy black.
The company has introduced a new Apple A10 Fusion which has 64-bit 4 core CPU with forty percent faster than the previous one. The graphic performance has also improved up to forty percent than the A9.
A vibration-based feedback system has been given to the home button which gives user feedback when touched. Apple’s MacBook laptops had a similar feature already.
The iPhone 7 will start at USD 649, while iPhone 7 Plus at USD 769. The company made USD 41.1 billion in the last year. With the release of the next generation iPhone, the company will be aiming to maximize the profit.
Google has announced the discontinuation of its Translate service in mainland China due to low usage. It was the tech...Read more


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The culture of craft beer has always had a strong connection to the communities in which it thrives. For many of us, our neighborhood brewery is far more than merely a place that produces the things we enjoy drinking–it is a community center, a gathering place, and an intrinsic part of our daily lives, not to mention a foundational element for hobbies, relationships, and fostering a sense of place. Enter Cheers, Yinz!, a beer festival built to help beloved local breweries weather the economic (and emotional) effects of decreased sales and temporary closures.
Welcome to Faces in Beer, one of PorchDrinking’s most ambitious projects ever.
Normally when a new writer joins our team, they go through a process where they cut their teeth on some easy first assignments–a beer showcase, or maybe an Ultimate 6er. Not Erik Stabile. Our newest writer pitched his onboarding project without hesitation: “I want to take film photographs of brewers and develop the film in the beer they brewed.”
Intrigued? So were we. Stabile explained he had been experimenting with developing photos in unconventional mediums and was ready to try craft brews. The pH of every beer is slightly different, and therefore each photo would theoretically reflect the unique makeup of that beer. It was going to be a temperamental process and potentially a giant failure, so naturally we were totally on board.
Each year, Chicago’s Cruz Blanca continues to get bolder with its barrel-aged series, Luchador. In 2019 the brewery released six different variants and in 2020 upped that number to eight different masked bottles that will be released this Saturday.
“We live in strange times,” Thom Yorke said to Stephen Colbert in 2019. “It’s not my fault.”
If you’re a Radiohead fan to any degree, please read on. You may be fond of this article, but not in love. Calm. Read at a better pace; slower and more calculated. Become an informed member of society. No longer empty and frantic. Be prepared to nerd out.
Wild Leap Brew Co. decided that just one day wasn’t enough for their birthday so, instead, the LaGrange, Georgia brewery decided to celebrate their third anniversary over the entire month of September.
When one thinks about the state of Indiana, a few things may immediately come to mind. Corn, basketball and the show “Parks and Recreation” are all likely answers but for many, craft beer is not necessarily one of them. That is a shame, considering that at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival competition, the Hoosier State picked up an impressive 10 medals and was home to the brewery with the highest number of winning beers overall: Sun King Brewing.
Against the Grain Brewery and Buzzard’s Roost Sippin’ Whiskeys announced a unique partnership on Thursday. The two Louisville, KY companies are teaming up to release a special beer and whiskey collaboration: Roosted Chiquen Brewer’s Toast Finish and Roosted Chiquen Sippin’ Beer.
If you ask, most veterans are willing to share at least some details of their military service with you. However, Locavore Beer Works co-owner Jason Reinhardt isn’t allowed to say very much.
Have you heard the Juicy Gossip? Turns out, Bell’s Brewery has a new beer just in time for the holidays. Nope, it’s not a coffee or dessert stout, or even a nice Christmas ale. In fact, the only thing Christmasy about this brew is the amount of tea you spill to your family members about how much you love this – pale ale? Yup. Juicy Gossip is just that – a juicy pale ale all ready to squeeze some good stuff out of your holidays.
Can you hear it? That’s the sweet, sweet sound of silence on the horizon. We’ve finally arrived at election day, which means by tomorrow the barrage of political ads will be all but a distant memory. Until then, we thought we’d help make election day a little more entertaining with a 2020 Election Night Drinking Game.
It is no secret that the 2020 Presidential Campaign is an unprecedented one. There has never been such an emphasis on people exercising their right and democratic duty to vote. Everyone from athletes, to singers and actors, to craft breweries are encouraging the public to vote this election season.
It’s no secret that beer nerds love apps – especially apps with badges, rewards and that all-important score board so you can keep track of what your friends are up to. In response to the devastating effect that the pandemic, lockdown, and some extremely tenuous and controversial decisions by the State Governor and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Texas Craft Brewer’s Association are fighting back with their very own Texas Brewery Explorer app.
“Autobots, Transform And Roll Out!” B127 is a Double New England IPA brewed by Wolf and Warrior Brewing Company in White Plains, New York. As it should be, this NEIPA is juicy, brewed by packing together malted oats, red wheat, flaked oats, a pinch of milk sugar, pilsner and pale malts. This base then marries a double dry hop of Tahoma, Sabro, Mosaic, and of course, the inimitable Citra.
Quick aside, so my editors don’t have to put a note in: I speak only for myself in this post. PorchDrinking staff and contributors do not have any official political stance that I’m aware of, and I have no animosity for people on this site or in our country who respectfully disagree about matters of policy. Also, sorry to die-hard “West Wing” fans if I do the show a disservice. All that said… go vote.
A millennial is about to write 1,000 words arguing that a television show from 21 years ago isn’t real life. It’s the kind of groundbreaking content that’s going to save this country. You’re welcome, America!
What’s your favorite scary movie? Forget the pumpkin beers and expiring Oktoberfests, we have just the right beer to pair with some of the best horror films of the last six decades in this week’s Ultimate 6er. So, grab some popcorn, because it’s time to get spooky!
CAUTION: Spoilers ahead.
It is no secret that this year has not been easy for the craft beer industry. Kentucky breweries were shut down mid-March and were ordered to stay close until late May. They’ve pivoted to package sales and curbside orders. They’ve dealt with changing capacity restrictions and curfews. They’ve removed and added chairs and tables both inside and outside. They’ve changed their hours more times than any business should. Despite all that, they’ve remained steadfast and committed to safely serving their customers. That’s why the founders of Louisville Beer Week knew it was pivotal to go ahead with their plans to celebrate and support the local Louisville beer scene.
Craft beer has long gone hand in hand with the outdoor adventure world because oftentimes, the prospect of enjoying a cold craft beer at the end of any great adventure can be just as rewarding as the workout itself.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it very difficult for both Kentucky craft breweries and Kentucky agriculture. The two industries will be able to celebrate each other on Wednesday, October 28 for the Fifth Annual Kentucky Proud Beer Series. And the beer they will be celebrating with? Well, it’s a beer brewed with a Kentucky-made product, a Kentucky Proud ingredient.
Just like Kentucky craft breweries, Kentucky farmers were left scrambling on how to deal with the shutdown and the lack of need for their products. Both industries were resilient in their efforts to work through the challenges.
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing head brewer Chris Davison found out his brewery had won two medals at the Great American Beer Festival in the most 2020 way possible: over Zoom while getting his daughter ready for bed. The Columbus, Ohio, brewery’s team had a company Zoom call going while the awards were announced virtually from Denver. Chris had bedtime duties, and parenting supersedes brewing.
Halloween highlights the calendar for now, and with that in focus we at PorchDrinking want to highlight some of the candy-sweet Sour Ales and adjunct-loaded Stouts that will be the perfect treat for parents during spooky season.
Georgia and Virginia-based New Realm Brewing Company brewed the perfect beer for the season in their cauldrons with Imperial Oaxaca Choca Mexican Chocolate Stout.


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This Monday, June 11, Apple will host one of its biggest events of the year, WWDC, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. First thing in the morning will be the famous Keynote presentation where Apple’s top brass takes the stage to preview the latest treasures in their chest.
Here are just a few of those expected to be announced:
- iOS 6 – the banners advertising this at the conference are already being hung – a small update compared to iOS 5, but it does introduce Apple Maps (and kicks out Google Maps). A complete Facebook integration and bringing Siri to the iPad, among the rumors.
- iCloud – photo-sharing to social media sites and video stream, where videos are synced in the cloud.
- New Macs – the consensus seems to indicate that the entire Mac lineup will be refreshed with Retina Displays. With that as the primary change there could also be a shrinking of the MacBook Pro size and multiple spec updates.
With Apple’s notorious secrecy there is the potential for multiple big surprises. Plus, this will be the first WWDC without Steve Jobs so it will be interesting to see how Tim Cook and crew pave the way.
For an in-depth look at all these new features – 9to5 Mac – WWDC 2012 Roundup
This month both Stanford and Open University reached 50 million downloads of their iTunes U content, a major milestone for online education.
Altogether, the service from Apple reached 700 million downloads in January 2012.
In subjects ranging from human behavior to linguistics, Stanford lectures…have been downloaded a whopping 50 million times.
The milestone, reached March 14, comes nearly seven years after Stanford became the first university to offer public access to campus lectures, concerts and courses through iTunes U.
“It shows there is a huge appetite for high-quality educational content,” said Brent Izutsu, the senior program manager for Stanford on iTunes U. “And that will only grow as more people look online to supplement their education.”
The most popular offerings are in engineering, where students can learn to build an iOS app or study quantum physics under one of the fathers of string theory, Leonard Susskind.
The Open University:
Open University is the first in Europe to reach more than one million active subscriptions through the iTunes U app since it launched back on 19 January. The University’s 52 courses add to the University’s extensive material on iTunes U which has now seen more than 50 million international downloads, with over 40,000 new downloads each day.
Our most popular course on the iTunes U iPad app The New Entrepreneurs has over 100,000 active subscribers, with another six of our courses having over 50,000 subscribers each. Last week we released a new course Moons: An Introduction which incorporates the University’s first Multi-Touch iBook Moon Rocks: An Introduction to the Geology of the Moon, created using Apple’s iBooks Author.
Thx to Pando Daily


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Sources are saying that we should expect an upcoming announcement very soon that gaming streaming service Twitch has been acquired by Google. The sale price for Twitch is said to be $1 billion, but that is unconfirmed at this point.
Sources claim that while the deal with Google is still being finalized, Microsoft lost out on a chance to acquire the streaming service as it simple was outbid by Google. Google apparently believes that Twitch fits well with YouTube and other properties that are in the Google Empire.
It is unknown if Twitch will retain its branding an independence from the Google mother ship, but whispers says that those are among the sticking points which is holding up the closing of the deal. Expect to hear more about this deal getting done in the weeks ahead.


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Two things can be true at once.
For example, while TikTok and YouTube Shorts excel at engagement, Instagram is the strongest platform in terms of reach, offering 10 percent higher reach on average than TikTok, which conversely offers 35 percent higher engagement over Instagram.
“The KPIs are slightly different across platforms, but the net learning is that they’re all important; they all matter, just for different things,” said Kate Kenner Archibald, chief marketing officer at Dash Hudson.
Among the key social media trends identified by Dash Hudson are that regardless of platform, entertainment-focused strategies win; TikTok heavy-hitters — like Florence by Mills — who bring their strategy to Instagram Reels are subsequently seeing sizable wins on the platform, and on YouTube (where engagement is not a metric, but rather video views and viewer retention are KPIs), Shorts receive a 20 percent higher engagement rate than long-form videos, though brands have been slow to fold them into their strategy.
“Previously, it was more effective for brands to partner with influencers on YouTube than to make their own content, but Shorts have changed the game — they provide a great avenue for short-form video that didn’t exist before, and a lighter brand lift from a production standpoint,” Archibald said.
Founded by Ariana Grande and Millie Bobby Brown, respectively, R.e.m. Beauty and Florence by Mills have made their way to the top on TikTok primarily through UGC and tutorials, rather than leaning on their celebrity, noted Dash Hudson customer insights manager, Quinn Williams.
Here, Dash Hudson’s who’s who on which brands are winning by engagement across platforms.
TikTok top performers by engagement rate:
- Ourself: 22.1 percent
- Sigma Beauty: 15.4 percent
- R.e.m. Beauty: 12.8 percent
- Florence by Mills: 11.6 percent
- Tatcha: 10.5 percent
Instagram top performers by engagement rate:
- Florence by Mills: 3.4 percent
- Tree Hut: 2.6 percent
- Laneige U..S.: 2.5 percent
- Kailav beauty: 2.1 percent
- Zalando Beauty: 1.7 percent
YouTube top performers by video percentage viewed (viewer retention):
- Alterna Haircare: 314 percent
- Cetaphil Brasil: 245 percent
- Clinique: 104 percent
- Cetaphil Polska: 97 percent
- Bobbi Brown: 95 percent


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Ricoh Canada, Inc. is proud to announce that it has received the ENERGY STAR® Canada Manufacturer of the Year Award for Electronics for the second consecutive year. The award recognizes its excellence in the arena of advancing market transformation on energy efficiency in Canada. This latest recognition acknowledges Ricoh's hard work to promote environmental sustainability, through both manufacturing energy-efficient products and advocating sustainable practices in and outside the organization.
The Deming Award recognizes corporations and individuals who demonstrate an outstanding commitment to quality control, and whose products or inventions make exceptional advances in the pursuit of quality. Less than 100 select companies have won the Deming Award. Ricoh was the first office equipment manufacturer to win one — and today, we're the only such company to have won two. The criteria include corporate policy, quality systems, education and training, results and future plans.
Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) Awards
We've won 16 awards for our product lines in the Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) 2015 Winter Pick Awards, including awards for Outstanding Achievement in Innovation for our Smart Operation Panel.


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Fueled by such professional technologies as lasers and wearable mask devices, the at-home beauty devices market continues to heat up, increasing globally by nearly 14% in 2014, according to Kline & Co., a market research and management consulting firm.
Mergers and acquisitions among pharmaceutical companies has kicked into high gear this year, mirroring the larger trend sweeping across the entire spectrum of the health care industry since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act two years ago.
As the country’s healthcare system continues to move away from a fee-for-service structure, retail-based clinics are taking on added significance for the operators of these facilities and their patients.
A new and radically different concept for frontline health care emerged last year when Walmart unveiled its first Walmart Care Clinics in Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. If things go according to plan, patients and health plan payers across the United States can look forward to a cheaper and more affordable alternative to the family doctor for nearly all their primary care needs.


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Connecthings, a provider of location-based mobile application solutions, has announced the launch of Herow, an augmented location platform that provides mobile application developers and marketers with the tools and user insights needed to transform the way they deliver valuable, personalized mobile user experiences, the company said.
Leveraging a decade-long understanding of the city fabric, hyper-precise location technology, and machine learning algorithms, Herow by Connecthings helps mobile application developers and marketers optimize services and deliver experiences based on the context of their users in real time.
Respondents to the recent survey reported only half of the notifications they receive are relevant to their situation (time, place and activity); more than 60 percent reported the most annoying aspects of notifications are lack of relevancy and poor timing.
Herow´s augmented location technology collects and analyzes 2,000 data points per user per day. As the data gets richer, so does its analytics and developers´ ability to improve the efficacy and longevity of their applications.
Privacy is top-of-mind for both companies and consumers. In addition to the European General Data Protection Regulation, many US states are proposing regulations that will impact how businesses consume and store data. Survey respondents reported that although they are willing to share location data with family, friends and even their favorite brands, 72 percent believe that data should not be shared with third parties.
Herow applies a two-layer opt-in approach to location-sharing permissions. Location and behavioral data are used exclusively by applications to customize experiences. Connecthings does not save historical data or share it with any third-party services. Users can request to opt out and have information deleted by applications at any time.
With more than a decade of bridging the gap between the digital and physical urban landscape, Connecthings is the provider of augmented location technology. Leveraging a deep knowledge of the city fabric, hyper-precise location technology and machine-learning algorithms, Herow by Connecthings helps mobile applications understand the context of users — in real time — in order to deliver relevant, timely experiences. With five offices across three continents, Connecthings now counts hundreds of clients — including more than 60 cities — and 3 patents in Europe and the Americas. To learn how augmented location is transforming mobile application experiences, visit www.connecthings.com.


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RAGE 2 Cracked: Denuvo Anti-Tamper tech missing on the official Bethesda Launcher
Even though RAGE 2 is mostly purchased through Steam, where the Denuvo Anti Tamper technology is currently active, Bethesda forgot to secure its game on its official launcher. That was probably prosecuted with a code breaker, which allowed coders to crack the code and release an unofficial version of the game.
The Bethesda Store Version is free of Denuvo and will remain such until a realization moment kicks in. So far nothing has been changed, and the Bethesda Store is still keeping hold to the unprotected game branch.
Our friends at DSOGaming stated that RAGE 2 is missing a Denuvo Anti-Tamper tech on the official Bethesda Store, as it is being downloaded without one. That means the game’s files are being pretty much exposed without any kind of encryption.
As it appears, it is not the first time witnessing a flaw of this caliber. Other video games have faced the same too. Bethesda is most likely going to take actions against this, and will probably update the video game on their own Store.
Whether is that by mistake or not, players that are playing the game by using the Bethesda Launcher are most likely to note a higher performance than those on playing RAGE 2 on Steam.


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Horse a hidden ingredient in many European foods
DUBLIN (AP) — So hungry you could eat a horse? Chances are, if you've regularly consumed processed-meat products in Europe, you already have.
Since Ireland published surprise DNA results on Jan. 15 showing that a third of frozen "beef" burgers in Ireland contained at least a trace of horse, food scientists in more than a dozen countries have found the animal trotting into products where it was never meant to roam.
Daily revelations from an ever-increasing menu of supermarket, catering and restaurant goods have taught the world one lesson: When minced up with other meat or slathered with spices, consumers cannot tell equine from bovine in the food chain. European horse has yet to be detected in any American-sold products.
In fairness, IKEA never did call them beef balls. The Swedish furniture giant has discovered that its signature cafeteria dish — spiced meatballs of mixed beef and pork — also might contain horse.
Ikea said Monday it was withdrawing stocks of frozen "Kottbullar" meatballs from stores in 24 nations, including Thailand and Hong Kong in Asia and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. European countries affected were Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. Somehow, the Swiss were spared.
IKEA was keen to stress that its U.S.-based meatballs were all-American and not subject to recall.
This is the product that started the January stampede to Europe's DNA labs. Irish authorities doing a random quality check were shocked to find horse meat in frozen burgers produced for five Irish and British supermarkets, and eventually traced the source to Poland. The Irish producers' top two customers — Burger King's British, Irish and Danish restaurants and the British supermarket chain Tesco — quickly took their business elsewhere.


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Specialty on-line retailers like Myntra, Voonik regain market share
Myntra, Voonik, Limeroad, and Nykaa area unit seeing sturdy demand among web shoppers, whereas growth in fashion at Amazon and Flipkart has slowed over the past year
Bengaluru: Specialty on-line fashion retailers, semiconductor diode by Myntra, have regained market share over the past year on the rear of associate improved whole assortment and easier browsing expertise, indicating that they’re holding their own against the likes of Flipkart and Amazon Asian nation.
Myntra, Voonik, Limeroad and Nykaa area unit seeing sturdy demand among web shoppers whereas sales growth in fashion at Amazon and Flipkart has slowed over the past year. Snapdeal, that is facing a money crunch when troubled to lift contemporary funds, has seen a pointy come by fashion sales over the past year, in keeping with fashion brands and e-commerce executives.
Myntra is on target to exceed its target of Rs5,000 large integer in gross merchandise price (GMV) for the year ending thirty-one March, eightieth on top of its GMV within the previous twelvemonth, chief government Ananth Narayanan same in an associate interview last month.
Myntra had earlier lost market share to its parent Flipkart further as Amazon Asian nation when it ditched its website and have become an associated app-only platform in could 2015. beginning Jan 2016, however, the corporate has been winning back market share and showing speedy sales growth by raising its product choice, together within its personal label providing, and planning a higher browsing expertise. The merchandise additionally got a lift from re-opening its desktop and mobile websites last June. Myntra has currently forecast sales growth of four-hundredth at Jabong within the next twelvemonth.
“LimeRoad core stress has forever been on user engagement. This in giant half is driven by exclusive content announce by our community along with our hyper-personalized algos. LimeRoad is that the sole platform within the fashion e-tailing business that offers the users services on the far side simply discounts – the curated appearance and stories that assist the user in discovering pleasant product at superb costs,” Limeroad chief executive officer Suchi Mukherjee same in an associate email via an exponent.
The comeback by specialty fashion retailers last year may be a reverse of what happened in 2015 once the 3 largest on-line marketplaces—Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal—saw a surge in demand for attire, shoes, and jewelry primarily by providing deep discounts.
“If you consider the stats around the current active shoppers and users, there may well be a symptom for the larger marketplaces within the short a minimum of as a result of Myntra is rising as a whole with a transparent identity and is winning customers WHO area unit fashion seekers. To American state, they’re rising as a fashion destination or associate somebody of fashion brands (rather) than a marketplace,” same Sridhar Prasad, partner, e-commerce and start-ups at KPMG Asian nation.
The rise of specialty retailers additionally gives queries over whether or not Flipkart, that owns Myntra and another fashion merchandiser Jabong, can find yourself symptom sales in its 2 units. Flipkart has known fashion in a concert of its key growth drivers this year.
Flipkart and Myntra each count catamount and United colors of Benetton among their five-largest marketing brands. Myntra declined to comment.
Flipkart reiterated what its fashion head Rishi Vasudev same in an associate interview in December. Vasudev same then that Flipkart and Myntra catered to completely different audiences with “negligible” client overlap. Flipkart’s focus is to supply the widest vary of product and sell to the lots whereas Myntra generates a majority of its sales marketing pricier product to alleged fashion seekers. Myntra’s personal label business is another individual, causative up to a half-hour of its sales. one among Myntra’s personal brands, Roadster, is that the biggest-selling product on the platform.
Unlike Flipkart, arch-rival Amazon Asian nation is that specialize in each mass product further as alleged luxury brands. Amazon has intercalary premium brands like Aeropostale, M&S, archangel Kors and Emporio Armani to draw in fashionistas, with the exception of providing lower-priced brands.
“In simply 3 years of our launch, we’ve with success designed the most important on-line fashion store with over two million fashion product from over fifteen thousand brands. the shop is among the highest 3 stores on Amazon.in and is one among the quickest growing stores on the platform. we tend to still grow sharply in terms of business and are growing at over a hundred and fiftieth (year-on-year). Amazon Fashion is additionally a magnet class that contributes concerning half-hour of latest Amazon.in customers and has systematically been doing this quarter-on- quarter,” associate Amazon Asian nation exponent same.
Our concentration for 2017 is to make the form as an urgent vertical for Snapdeal. we tend to still build capabilities around fashion that are cheap however terribly top quality at the constant time. With the recent addition of near a hundred new brands together with some outstanding national and international names to our fashion portfolio, we tend to area unit assured that this growth can bring North American country nearer to our goal of constructing Snapdeal a one-stop buy all fashion trends and elegance needs” Vishal Chadha, senior vice-president, business at Snapdeal same in associate emailed statement.
Edited By articlesworldbank.com


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As if Google didn’t already offer enough communication apps, it’s just rolled out a new one that you might soon use at work.
Meet by Google Hangouts lets G Suite users set up and join HD video meetings. It currently has a Web app and an iOS version, but there’s nothing for Android or even a product description page as yet. Google appears to be keeping this on the down-low for the time being.
As TechCrunch noted, the desktop version lets you join a meeting by entering a code and shows you scheduled meetings; you can’t yet start a new conference from the site. However, the iOS app’s listing mentions features like dial-in numbers for people who can’t access the video stream, as well as integration with Gmail and Google Calendar.
The timing of Google’s launch of Meet for users of its productivity suite is interesting, given that just two weeks ago, Amazon unveiled its Chime app for video conferencing.
At this point, it’s hard to say if Google’s new offering can hold its own against competition from the like of Microsoft’s Skype and GoToMeeting; however, deep integration with the company’s popular suite of productivity tools – which might also mean that its cost is included in G Suite’s subscription fee – might make it a good choice for the 3 million companies that are already invested in the search giant’s set of apps.


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Addigy, a provider of cloud-based Apple device management software, just announced new security and management enhancements to the its Apple Device Management Platform. These include new anti-spoofing protections, authentication, device provisioning and single sign on through existing directly services like Microsoft Active Directory.
The news highlights a number of realities that the cyber security field should acknowledge, if not fully embrace:
- Apple products, from Mac laptops to iOS tablets and iPhones, represent a significant attack surface area, one that is not being adequately defended in many organizations.
- Users of Apple products tend to be in senior positions. Their devices may be few in number, but they likely contain highly valuable data assets like information about trade secrets and financial dealings.
- A lot more IT vendors are involved in security than anyone realizes. (Or, these vendors should be.)
Addigy has made its name with management tools, but now, as is the case with other comparable companies, it has been enjoined in the fight against malicious actors. Why? Because system and device management is essential to cyber security. Attackers look for vulnerabilities everywhere. Provisioning of iOS devices is a natural place to find points of infiltration. Addigy is addressing this risk.
“Apple has been something of a second-class citizen in the security realm,” said Jason Dettbarn, CEO of Addigy. “But, the threat environment has caught up with the corporate world. There is a strong mandate now to defend Apple products against attacks.”
Dettbarn acknowledged that some of Apple’s marginal status in the enterprise was a direct result of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ indifference toward enterprise users. “These devices have been deliberately engineered with a lot of specific features that the user can’t control,” Dettbarn added.
“This has led to several vulnerabilities. For example, with an Apple serial number as the device’s sole identifier, it’s possible to spoof the device using a virtual machine. Then, you can log into a VPN and have total access to the corporate network.” Addigy provides a software-based agent that obligates the user to authenticate using the organization’s Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution.


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Apple Pay Crypto? What to Know About the Latest Apple Crypto Rumors
Indeed, Apple is one of those innovative companies investors can expect to attack new and exciting industries. Cryptocurrencies appear to be here to stay. And while they are, it’s a safe bet to think Apple will want to cash in on this movement in some way, shape or form.
As it stands, it appears investors have some foundation to make this speculative leap. Let’s dive into what is driving this speculation today.
What Investors Need to Know About Apple Pay Crypto Rumors
Well, this isn’t just any ordinary job posting.
Apple is looking for someone with cryptocurrency and alternative payment solutions experience. This role would be on the Apple Wallets, Payments and Commerce team. And the person would also need to have extensive business or market development experience in the financial services industry.
If you know of anyone like this, feel free to pass the posting along.
Jokes aside, this job opening has correctly stirred up enthusiasm among crypto investors in Apple. The posting is rather vague, and it’s unclear exactly what sort of market development this person with cryptocurrency experience would be working on. However, it’s not a big leap to suggest an Apple Pay crypto project may be in the works.
At least, that’s what the market is certainly hoping for right now.
On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
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Innovative Solutions (IS) has announced that it has achieved a significant milestone by becoming a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
PCI-DSS is an international standard that has been developed to increase countermeasures around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud.
With this important achievement, IS becomes the first company registered in and operating from Saudi Arabia that can offer PCI-DSS compliance validation as part of its cybersecurity services to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA).
“I’m delighted that we have achieved this important milestone. I believe being a successful company is the result of addressing clients’ requirements through domain expertise, a working knowledge of today’s best practices, and development of cutting-edge technologies,” said Abdulrahman Alshetwey, CEO, IS.
Headquartered in Riyadh, Innovative Solutions is a cybersecurity services company operating in the GCC region. The company also has regional offices in Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
“We are the trusted partner in providing world-class tailored & purposeful Cyber Security Products, Solutions and Services combined with Strategic Consulting that exceeds our clients’ expectations across multiple sectors enabling them to protect their businesses and make the best use of the cyberspace. We have influenced and contributed to the development of the Cyber Security industry in the GCC to be reckoned as a major regional player,” said Alshetwey.


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Andile Khumalo new chairman of House of Brave. Asanda Sizani named editor in chief of GLAMOUR South Africa. Alasdair Muller new group sales director at The Media Factory. Olav Westphal is the ABF’s new president. Tribeca Public Relations expands executive leadership team. The face of morning radio is about to change. BT Group CPO Hari Sundaresan to tell FEPE International Congress how procurement impacts on media spend. President Ramaphosa to address SA’s biggest board meeting, The Directors Event. Publicis Groupe launches AI platform, Marcel. Top SA women to judge FAIRLADY Santam Women of the Future Awards. Ninety9cents adds new accounts to its portfolio. Mission critical update on the MAPs market research initiative
This week’s BIG move: Andile Khumalo new chairman of House of Brave
House of Brave has announced Andile Khumalo as the group’s new non-executive chairman with immediate effect. This follows House of Brave announcing a Black Economic Empowerment transaction in February 2018 that saw Karabo Songo and Musa Kalenga acquire an initial 25.1% of the Group through their investment company Fastgro. Songo currently serves as Group CEO while Musa Kalenga serves as Chief Future Officer.
A Chartered Accountant by profession, Khumalo is the chief investment officer of MSG Afrika, a black-owned media and communications group with interests in radio, TV production, as well as PR and communications.
“Andile is a one of the pioneers and entrepreneurs of building major successful communications groups in South Africa and the continent and as a board, we are glad to have him help lead and share our journey, as we seek to build a diversified credible and solutions-driven communications group,” said CEO Songo.
“My experience in the industry saw us build a credible agency group that attracted the interest of the largest advertising group in the world namely WPP which acquired half of our agencies in 2009,” said Khumalo.
“While I believe the fundamentals of great communication haven’t changed, it is impossible to ignore the constant shifts in consumer habits, profiles and tastes. The needs of clients have also evolved and the combination of these factors means the marketing context has changed. The reality, however, is that within this context very little has altered in the business model.
“Overall, these changes are driving clients to demand much more of their advertising agencies – demands that are often unmet mainly due to the legacy of the agency business model. For some reason we have forgotten the real reason clients come to us. We’ve forgotten that we are in fact, a creative industry. Through this business, our single minded goal is to build a creative business, powered by service models and enabled by technology.”
Asanda Sizani named editor in chief of GLAMOUR South Africa
Condé Nast Independent Magazines, a subsidiary of Independent Media, has announced the appointment of Asanda Sizani as editor in chief of GLAMOUR, effective 01 June 2018. Sizani will succeed previous editor Pnina Fenster, who left GLAMOUR in March to pursue new ventures after editing the title since its launch in 2004.
In addition to representing the brand’s editorial vision, Sizani is also charged with developing a fresh vision for GLAMOUR and spearheading new ways to connect with the brand’s diverse audience.
Sizana’s influence on the industry is as wide as it is varied. She moves to GLAMOUR from ELLE South Africa, where she held the role of fashion and beauty director, having previously held fashion editor roles at Destiny, Destiny Man and Drum magazines. Sizani also holds an extensive freelance portfolio, which includes collaborations with a number of top South African and international brands, magazines, media platforms and personalities.
“I am honoured and humbled to be taking up the mantle of Editor-in-Chief of GLAMOUR at such a pivotal time for all women’s voices” said Sizani.
Alasdair Muller new group sales director at The Media Factory
Alasdair Muller is now the group sales director at mall media specialist, The Media Factory ZA. Muller was formerly head of sales for Sub-Saharan Africa at JCDecaux and managed sales across 13 markets in Africa.
He has 10 years’ experience in OOH, and a real passion for the growth of digital out of home on the continent.
“Joining the Media Factory was a decision that just made sense to me. It’s a young entrepreneurial business with a passion for innovation and with a great platform for growth,” he said. As in many other industries, technological advances create new opportunities, and this allows smaller businesses to leapfrog those with outdated business models. I have always admired what Alan and Matt have done with the business in such a short space of time, and it’s great to be part of this team”
CEO Alan Kietzman said it was imperative for the company to attract respected and experienced professionals into the business. “Due to our rapid growth year on year, our expansion into Africa and fast growing DOOH network we are very excited to have Alasdair on board… his passion for media, entrepreneurial mindset and drive is matched by few in the media owner sphere,” he said.
Olav Westphal is the ABF’s new President
After serving on the ABF (Advertising Benevolent Fund) executive board for three years, SPARK Media’s Olav Westphal has been named President of the fund by fellow Exco members. Westphal takes over the reins from John Bowles who served as acting president and president of the ABF for over nine years. The fund exists to offer short term assistance to members of the advertising and media industry who have fallen on hard times.
With the exception of a few paid officials, which include a treasurer and two social workers, all serve in an entirely voluntary capacity. While the fund is based in Johannesburg, regional branches administer local aspects of the ABF’s work in Durban. The organisation is in the process of re-establishing a presence in Cape Town.
“We are currently recruiting fresh talent onto the exco and are reviving several fund raising and networking opportunities that will take place throughout the year,” Westphal said. “The first event, a lawn bowls based fundraiser, has already taken place and we’re looking forward to hosting media agencies, creative agencies and marketers at future events.
Tribeca Public Relations expands executive leadership team
Tribeca Public Relations (Tribeca) has expanded its executive leadership team with the appointment of business unit directors Nicola Tarr and Davina Malan to the agency’s executive committee (exco).
Tarr and Malan are senior PR consultants who have been with the agency for nine and five years respectively, overseeing approximately half of the agency’s staff and client base each. They will join co-founders and directors Nicky James and Cian Mac Eochaidh in being responsible for Tribeca’s strategic leadership, including people and client management, and the agency’s overall growth and development strategy.
“Tarr and Malan are highly respected and experienced PR consultants who have established close relationships with their teams and clients,” says James and Mac Eochaidh. “Expanding our exco team and unlocking the collective potential of our senior consultants positions the agency well to grow in reputation, clients, and as an employer of choice in the South African public relations industry.”
The face of morning radio is about to change
ChaiFM has announced that businessman, author of ‘Carry on Baggage’ and ‘Tightrope: Musings of Circus South Africa’, speaker, and social commentator (not to mention its inimitable afternoon drive host) Howard Feldman is set to host the Morning Mayhem team from Monday to Fridays from 06:00 to 09:00.
“Howard stood in on the Morning Mayhem and I, like so many other listeners, found ourselves enjoying his whit, intelligence, insight, content, and sense of humour so much, I had to ask him to stay. When you set your alarm to wake up specially to listen to ChaiFM in the morning, you know you have brilliant radio. There’s no other morning show that even comes close,” said Kathy Kaler, CEO and founder of ChaiFM.
BT Group CPO Hari Sundaresan to tell FEPE International Congress how procurement impacts on media spend
Hari Sundaresan, chief procurement officer of BT Group, one of Britain’s biggest companies and advertisers, will deliver a keynote at this year’s FEPE International Congress in Sorrento on 6-8 June, looking at the growing role and importance of procurement as a strategic sourcing function within BT and how this flows down into managing significant spend across media.
New Postercope Global President, Stephen Whyte will make one of his first appearances in this role on a major public platform at FEPE as he joins a panel discussing the Out of Home industry’s Value Proposition. Whyte, a former CEO of ad agency McCann-Erickson in the UK who also ran his own successful digital business consultancy, is an expert on how digital is transforming the advertising business.
Delegates will also hear from financial expert Mark Boidman, Managing Director, Head of Media Services, Media and Tech Investment Banking at New York banking advisory firm PJ SOLOMON who will update Congress on a busy mergers and acquisitions market. Boidman has worked on over $40bn of deals in the sector.
President Ramaphosa to address SA’s biggest board meeting, The Directors Event
President Cyril Ramaphosa will be delivering the keynote address at South Africa’s biggest board meeting, The Directors Event, which will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre on 8 June 2018. Dr Jabu Mabuza, Chairman of Business Leadership South Africa will deliver this year’s Chairman’s Report.
Now in its fourth year, The Directors Event invites industry leaders to unpack three issues of national importance and discuss solutions in a public forum, moderated by highly-respected media personalities.
“We are honoured to have President Ramaphosa address this important gathering of some of the top minds in South Africa. We invited him as a response to the call he made during his maiden State of the Nation Address earlier this year, calling on all South Africans, in their small corners, to help develop this country. We believe, strongly, that corporate South Africa has a massive role to play and we are very excited that everyone seems to have accepted the President Ramaphosa’s “Thuma Mina” call,” says Bongani Siqoko, editor of the Sunday Times.
Publicis Groupe launches AI platform, Marcel
Publicis Groupe has unveiled Marcel, named after Publicis Groupe founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, an AI-powered innovation that will accelerate transforming the organisation from a holding company to a platform, creating the first truly borderless, frictionless enterprise workforce, comprised of 80 000 employees worldwide, and usher in a new era of creativity and innovation.
Arthur Sadoun, Chairman & CEO, Publicis Groupe, said: “In June last year, Publicis Groupe announced the creation of Marcel, to connect our 80 000 employees and completely reinvent the way that we work, for ourselves and our clients. Since then, our industry has gone through unprecedented challenges, demonstrating that incremental change is not a solution. The need for reinvention is stronger than ever,” he said, adding that Publicis had “broken the divide between data, creativity and technology. We have broken our silos through the Power of One. Today, we are breaking the barriers between talent and opportunity with Marcel”.
He said Marcel was proof of the Groupe’s commitment to its people. “At Publicis, we will put them first in our transformation, and give them the opportunity to learn, share and create more than anywhere else. Marcel is the proof of our commitment to our clients. They will be able to leverage our incredible diversity of talent to bring to life the ideas they need to grow their business.
“And, of course, Marcel is the proof of our commitment to our industry. We will be a force for good, by leading the change.”
Top SA women to judge FAIRLADY Santam Women of the Future Awards
FAIRLADY and Santam are searching for female entrepreneurs: three amazing women who have taken the leap to work for themselves and are now creating opportunities for others – and boosting our economy!
The panel of respected judges presiding over the awards comprises FAIRLADY editor, Suzy Brokensha; Professor Thuli Madonsela
Chief Patron of the Thuli Madonsela Foundation and the current Chair of Social Justice at Stellenbosch University; Annette La Grange, head of HR Business Partners at Santam; Jo-Ann Strauss, media entrepreneur and international speaker; and Dawn Nathan-Jones, dynamic entrepreneur, businesswoman and TV personality.
Ninety9cents adds new accounts to its portfolio
Ninety9cents (99c) recently added several new accounts to its Cape Town portfolio, including the multi-brand OK Franchise Division, Namibia Asset Management, Kuda Holdings and Cape Thoroughbred Sales (CTS).
99c Group CEO Andrew Brand says that the wins are in line with the agency’s strategy of growing both their Through the Line (TTL) and retail portfolios in their Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lusaka offices.
“While we’re quite well known for our strong retail credentials, we also work on a wide range of brands across a number of different industries and categories; from financial services and technology, to restaurants, liquor, lifestyle and NGOs. I believe our client-centric, results-driven approach appeals to a wide range of clients who rightfully demand the best possible return on their marketing investment,” said Brand.
Brand said the 99c model was working well in Cape Town, and he hoped clients in Johannesburg and Zambia would find it to be equally compelling, as the agency grew its footprint beyond the Cape.
VOOV launches first-in-Africa withdrawal feature, enabling users to earn cash from their own content
Social live streaming and Mini Video application VOOV has taken another step towards empowering content creators and rewarding the thousands of artists across its platform. Withdrawal, a new feature, allows users (also known as VOOVers) to earn real money with their content through receiving gifts given to them by their followers on the app. The ‘Diamonds’ gifted to them by their fans and followers, can be cashed out for real money.
Launched in July 2017, VOOV has attracted thousands of local users to its platform. VOOV’s content creators are a fun and dynamic mix of celebrities and opinion leaders who create and share content that give followers access to their world as well as everyday VOOVers whose own live streams and Mini Videos compete for views, likes, comments and Gifts across a broad range of content such as gadgets and gaming, relationships, comedy, beauty and entertainment.
Recently launched #VOOVTV is another way for VOOVers to get noticed, build a larger audience and become a star. The ‘world first’ live from your phone broadcast to TV in partnership with MultiChoice on channel 196 is a dedicated channel on DStv and an extension of the VOOV app.
APEX awards 2018 jury announced
As has been the case with the annual APEX awards in the past, the 2018 edition once more boasts with a highly regarded adjudication panel. The panel consists of captains of industry from a variety of disciplines, all of whom together will be combing through entries to find the ‘work that works’. Drawn from strategy, digital, creative, research, media, marketing as well as agency heads, the list of judges is a veritable who’s who of the industry.
The 2018 APEX awards jury members are as follows:
|Ana Carrapichano||Founder and Group CEO||Mediology|
|Andrew Shuttleworth||Executive Managing Director||House of Brave Group|
|Daniel Naidoo||Director||Gendel Interactive|
|Fran Luckin||Chief Creative Officer||Grey Africa|
|Gareth Leck||Group CEO||Joe Public United|
|Ivan Moroke||CEO||KantarTNS / Co-Currency|
|Jerry Anthonyrajah||Head of Marketing, Strategy and New Business Development||JET|
|Julian Ribeiro||Head of Marketing, Communications & Sales||Stadio Holdings|
|Kabelo Lehlongwane||Deputy Director of Strategy||FCB|
|Katlego Moutlana||Head of Strategy||Mortimer Harvey|
|Mick Blore||Chief Creative Officer||McCann|
|Mike Jones||Marketing Manager||MultiChoice DStv Premium|
|Mogorosi Mashilo||Founder and Director||TrendER|
|Natalie Botha||Creative Development Director||Kantar Millward Brown|
|Neil Higgs||Independent Consultant||ex TNS Global|
|Odette van der Haar||CEO||ACA|
|Priniven Pillay||Independent Strategist|
|Robert Grace||Founding Partner & Head of Strategy||M&C Saatchi Group|
|Roxy Maqache||Founder and CEO||Desert Arabia Investments|
|Sbu Sitole||Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director||The Odd Number|
|Terri-Leigh Cassel||MD||Shift Joe Public|
|Veli Ngubane||Founding Partner and CEO||AVATAR|
Verizon Digital Media Services’ content delivery network now supports Quick UDP Internet Connections
Verizon Digital Media Services announced it has deployed Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) across its content delivery network, with 125 points of presence globally. The transport protocol, developed by Google, improves web page load and transaction speeds. Verizon Digital Media Services customers can enable QUIC through a simple rules engine change that takes effect within minutes, at no additional cost.
“We are always working to improve our network performance for our customers, who are in the business of providing digital media to their end users as quickly, securely and cost-efficiently as possible,” said Frank Orozco, chief technology officer, Verizon Digital Media Services. “Whether it’s streaming a widely watched sports event or accelerating a shopping cart transaction, every millisecond counts.”
QUIC improves web application performance across Chrome and Opera web browsers and select connected devices by decreasing time required to establish a secure connection. It also continues to deliver an active stream, seamlessly and uninterrupted, when an end user changes IP addresses by continuing to use the old connection ID from the new IP address.
Soweto Sex & Wellness Expo Ticket Sales ‘Exceed Venue Capacity’
The Soweto Sex & Wellness Expo 2018 has been postponed to 8 & 9 September 2018, after originally being scheduled for 26 & 27 May 2018. The reason, however, is a happy one.
According to a spokesperson for the organisers, Gabriel Ramokotjo, “The ticket sales have exceeded the capacity of the original venue. Therefore, in the interests of visitor comfort, we have decided to postpone the event to Spring once we have secured a bigger venue.” The original venue was Makubenjalo Pub & Restaurant, Diepkloof Zone 2.
“It is hugely important to us that Soweto experiences a world-class event. After years of neglect, Sowetans deserve the very best, whether it’s access to services or sexpos,” explained Ramokotjo.
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Address: Jerry’s Nugget Casino, 1821 Las Vegas Blvd. N., North Las Vegas
Status: Open Sunday to Thursday from 11.30 a.m. to 10 p.m., staying open until 10.30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
A new look and a new era debuts for the Jerry’s Nugget Casino’s dining options in North Las Vegas. Long famed its coffee shop and bakery, the former Uncle Angelo’s Pizza Joint has been transformed into the Contento Pizzeria & Bar, featuring a full-service dining room, a bar and lounge area and a “Contento To-Go” counter for take-out orders, including two slices of pizza and a glass of house wine priced at $12.
Behind the menu, executive chef Ismaele Romano, former executive pizza manager at Pizzeria Sapori, in Newport Beach, California.
Featuring a wall of bookcases showcasing some of the more than 50 wine choices priced under $100, diners can choose antipasti, pasta dishes and the namesake pizza options, including a $9 margherita and the $12 “Contento,” topped with white beans puree, housemade sausages and broccoli rabe.
Other selections include a $14 rigatoni, $10 arancini Siciliani and entrees like the $23 branzino, $18 salmon and the $21, 18 ounce New York steak, “sliced over organic arugula, shaved parmigiana and sautéed mushrooms.”
• All Coverage of Jerry’s Nugget [ELV]
• All Opening Alerts [ELV]


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Not long after the approval of the extension of maternity leave, the House Committee on Labor and Employment commenced the discussion of the “14th-month pay bill.”
The mandatory 14th-month pay is needed amidst the rising prices of good such as rice and petroleum products stated by Representative Rodrigo Abellanosa of Cebu City 2nd District. Not to mention the increased fares. The employees take-home pay could no longer pay their home needs, Rodrigo added.
When the school year starts, the 13th-month pay should be given on May or June under the new suggested bill. November or December in time for the Christmas Holidays, the 14th-month pay should be given.
Employees and employers have different opinions. Employees voiced their agreement while employers says that this bill will only increase their company costs.
The suggested bill will increase their company costs and this will give a disadvantage to them since the competitors can offer cheaper imports and smuggled goods. Either the consumers will have to adjust with the price change of the employers have to lay off some of the employees to compensate with the company costs caused by the mandatory 14th-month pay. It can even cause them to just close the business.(ECop) Employers Confederation of the Philippines.
The legislators consider skills training and other productivity-focused measures instead of the mandatory 14th-month pay, ECoP suggested. It is better for workers to work hard for it first before they get the incentives.
As an alternative from 13th-month pay, the National Wages and Productivity Board alongside the Department of Trade and Industry suggest that there should be certain categorization since not all can comply with the mandatory 14th-month pay.


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Trump’s metal tariffs
On March 8, 2018, US President Trump announced tariffs on US steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs became effective on March 23. The tariffs were imposed after two separate probes by the US Commerce Department showed steel and aluminum imports were a threat to US national security. Trump took action on the report within the 90-day timeline and actually imposed even higher tariffs than what the Commerce Department had proposed.
Last month, the Commerce Department submitted its Section 232 investigation on automotive imports to Trump. Trump has 90 days to act on the report.
Now it’s been almost a year since Trump announced the Section 232 tariffs. The tariffs were welcomed by US steel and iron ore companies including U.S. Steel (X), AK Steel (AKS), Nucor (NUE), and Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF). However, while some aluminum producers (SPY) like Century Aluminum (CENX) wholeheartedly supported the tariffs, Alcoa (AA) said that the Trump administration should instead focus on addressing the core issue of Chinese overcapacity. US automotive companies (F) (GM) (TSLA) actually look wary of any possible tariffs on automotive or automotive component imports.
Now, with the steel and aluminum tariffs almost a year old, it would be prudent to see how the tariffs have impacted different companies. Let’s begin by looking at the tariffs’ impact on the US steel industry in the next article.


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GAINESVILLE, Fla. and TAMPA, Fla. (PRWEB) March 07, 2017 -- SharpSpring, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHSP), a global provider of cloud-based marketing technologies that help marketers drive more leads, convert leads to sales and optimize their spend, announced today the launch of its integration with Enthusem by Prospect Smarter, Inc., an offline-to-online marketing tool that automates direct mail, personalized at scale.
The new integration allows customers to leverage information SharpSpring captures about prospects — such as site visits, emails opened, or lead score — to dynamically deliver hyper-personalized mailers from Enthusem. The printed mailer could then incorporate personalized elements such as the contact’s own social media images or company branding.
For example, Enthusem can automatically print and send mailers at the exact right time based on lead behavior triggered by SharpSpring automation tasks. Once engaged offline, recipients that go back online could then trigger a new SharpSpring automation task to improve conversion to a sale, such as an alert to the sales team or automatically adding a contact to an email series to move a lead further down the sales funnel.
The combination of direct mail and automation can be a powerful strategy to expand marketers’ reach. In Breaking Through the Noise, a recent report from the Canada Post, 51% of consumers said they prefer companies that use a combination of mail and email when communicating with them.
“Enthusem’s automated personalization-at-scale technology allows marketers to gain attention offline which drives interested consumers right back online where our customers’ trackable, personal and rich experiences await,” Enthusem owner and CEO Paul Blaylock said.
“Advanced targeting and personalization are some of the top benefits of marketing automation,” SharpSpring CEO Rick Carlson said. “When marketers combine SharpSpring’s behavioral tracking and analytics with Enthusem’s offline personalization tactics, they can multiply their impact and results.”
More information about the integration is available at http://www.sharpspring.com/enthusem.
About SharpSpring, Inc.
SharpSpring, Inc. (SHSP) is a rapidly growing, global provider of cloud-based marketing automation solutions that enable businesses to improve lead generation and engagement to drive more sales. The company’s product lines, which include SharpSpring and SharpSpring Mail+, are known for their innovation, flexible architecture, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness — all backed by high-quality customer support. Learn more at http://www.sharpspring.com and http://www.sharpspringmail.com.
Enthusem, by Prospect Smarter, is an offline-to-online marketing tool that automates direct mail, personalized at scale, and integrates with the most popular marketing automation and CRM systems, such as SharpSpring. To learn more about Enthusem, please visit http://site.enthusem.com/about/.
Chief Financial Officer
Director of Technology
Angela Medlar, Enthusem, http://www.enthusem.com, +1 813-699-9996 Ext: 102, [email protected]


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ITT’s Goulds Pumps brand launched the third annual “World of Pumps Quiz,” which runs for 20 weeks, offering new sets of questions biweekly through midnight on March 30, 2014. Last year 15,000 people from 151 countries participated in the quiz.
The third edition of the World of Pumps Quiz enables contestants to view questions from the first two editions, features an advanced Expert Challenge level—a second set of questions for users who want to test their knowledge to a higher technical degree, and encourages players to submit their own questions to be considered for future editions of the quiz.
The World of Pumps Quiz is the kick-off activity in an annual program leading to “Pump Appreciation Day,” an event initiated by ITT’s Goulds Pumps brand and celebrated the second Tuesday in April.
Pump Appreciation Day celebrates pumps as “the heart of industry” and features awards for outstanding organizations and individuals in the field, as well as activities to promote heart health.
To enter the World of Pumps Quiz, participants can go to www.worldofpumpsquiz.com. Once they answer the basic question correctly, quiz-takers can sign up to receive automatic notifications when the next basic question is posted.
Find more pump-related news and product info here.


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Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency and Calibra digital wallet won’t be available in certain markets.
The social media giant shared its plans for both projects, which aim to transform financial services worldwide by empowering the more than 1.7 billion people around the world who currently do not have a bank account. Libra is positioned as a currency that will offer more financial stability than fiat currencies in some developing economies, and Facebook says that it is currently in discussions with regulators, who, it claims, are eager to engage in conversations about it.
However, it has been revealed that there will be an equally large group of people who will not have access to the new payments service when it launches next year.
A Calibra spokesperson told reporters that the digital wallet will not available in a number of markets that are against cryptocurrency, or that have been sanctioned by the United States.
“The Libra Blockchain will be global, but it will be up to custodial wallet providers to determine where they will and will not operate. Calibra won’t be available in U.S.-sanctioned countries or countries that ban cryptocurrencies,” the spokesperson revealed.
India, Facebook’s biggest market, is reportedly among the list of countries where Calibra will not launch, as well as China, North Korea and Iran.
Earlier this week, Facebook said that Calibra will be available on WhatsApp, Messenger and through a standalone app, which led to confusion in India because WhatsApp already offers a person-to-person payments service in the country, WhatsApp Pay. In fact, India is the only market where WhatsApp currently offers the payments service, and it is available to one million users in India with plans to expand further into the country in the future.
A WhatsApp spokesperson told reporters that Facebook is committed to the efforts that it has made on WhatsApp Pay.


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Weekapaug Inn named top new hot spot
CRANSTON, R.I. —
The world's largest travel website names its top new hotels for 2013, and there's a Westerly spot among them.
The Weekapaug Inn is now considered one of the hot new hotels in the country by TripAdvisor.com.
A hotel in Vermont is the only other location in New England to make this year's list.


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DIFC Rebuilds the Silk Road with ChinaPress Release 29 Sep 2012 10:10 am
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the financial and business hub connecting the region’s emerging markets with the markets of Europe, Asia and the Americas, has encountered positive interest from Chinese companies in its latest trip to China. A senior DIFC delegation, led by Jeffrey Singer, Chief Executive Officer, DIFC Authority, was in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong this past week, discussing the role of Dubai as a financial and logistical hub for Chinese investment into the Middle East and Africa.
Jeffrey Singer, Chief Executive Officer, DIFC Authority said;
“Since its inception, DIFC has attracted major Chinese financial firms, who over the years have achieved significant growth in the region. In our recent visit to China, we saw great interest from Chinese institutions looking to come into the region to benefit from the promising growth opportunities. DIFC is committed to growing business and trade relationships between China and the Middle East, and to be a catalyst in the development of the new Silk Road.
“China and the Middle East have been important trade and investment partners for centuries, but it was only relatively recently that volumes have risen dramatically. With the advent of high-technology, the scale today is many thousands of times greater and more complex, and DIFC is the ideal jurisdiction to access this opportunity.”
The trip to China was part of the New Silk Road Conference Series organised by Latham & Watkins in partnership with DIFC and with the support of Falcon & Associates and the Financial Times. The Conference Series was held in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong this past week. Attendees included major Chinese corporations across different industries with existing operations or planned expansion in the Middle East.
DIFC launched in 2004 and has grown to be recognised as a global financial hub for business and finance in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The Centre provides a robust platform for its companies to transact business throughout the region supported by modern infrastructure, a regulatory and legal framework maintained to the highest international standards. The companies operating in DIFC employ a total of 13,000 people and, in 2011, the Centre contributed 1.4% of UAE’s GDP.


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He feared for his life as another helpless victim of a robbery on Monday in Yeoville, Johannesburg.
Zungu relived the harrowing ordeal to about 80 other Uber drivers yesterday, saying his client was told to get out of the vehicle.
In their numbers, Uber drivers converged at Zoo Lake in Johannesburg yesterday to discuss their safety concerns and to plan future protests.
“They [Uber] take their cut of 20% and turn their backs on us. They do not care about my life as an Uber driver – they just care about their cut,” said Zungu.
Drivers said the app-based cab hailing service looked like a perfect system from the outside but customers were not always aware of the daily realities faced by drivers.
Uber drivers have organised a safety awareness campaign to take place on Friday. It is meant, they say, to highlight the plight of drivers who are constantly harassed by metered taxi drivers, hijacked, beaten and at times deactivated from Uber.
The drivers said they had tried to hand over a memorandum – with 300 signatures – last year requesting a meeting with Uber management but that was unsuccessful.
Teresa Munchik, a representative of the drivers, said that Uber management had refused to recognise them and preferred to deal directly with individuals.
Another representative, Zweli Ngwenya, who has been an Uber driver for more than a year, said police were inundated with cases opened by drivers. “Uber drivers are scared to speak out because they are being deactivated.
“When you call the emergency line to report theft or damage to Uber cars, they [Uber] immediately deactivate you because you aren’t accessible.”
Uber spokesman Samantha Allenberg said drivers’ safety was very important and that new safety features were being incorporated into the app “but crime, unfortunately, is a reality in South Africa”.
“Incidents are happening all the time and we [try hard to] investigate the incident to determine whether it is something related to Uber or not,” Allenberg said.
“Based on the reports that we have received over the last couple of months, there have been incidents where two drivers have been killed, but we engaged police on that and we have no reason to believe that it was related to Uber in any way.”


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Earlier this week, products were flying off their figurative shelves at a pace that is pretty unusual for the summer. That’s because July 11, 2017 was the third-ever Amazon Prime Day – and in just a 30-hour period, the online retailer was able to offload close to $1 billion of merchandise.
The biggest seller of the day was the, an entry-level product that allows customers to access the company’s personal voice assistant, Amazon Alexa. With a 30% discount, it outsold thousands of other heavily discounted items, propelling Amazon to a 60% increase in revenue over the previous Prime Day in 2016.
At triple the sales of a normal day, it’s fair to say Amazon Prime Day is big – but just how big, exactly?
How does Amazon Prime Day compare?
Set up to reward Amazon’s roughly 80 million Prime subscribers once a year, the $1 billion number is pretty impressive even on a grander scale.
Here are the e-commerce numbers forand for all U.S. retailers in 2016:
|Shopping Day||Retailer||E-commerce sales||% Increase (from prev. year)|
|Amazon Prime Day (2017)||Amazon||$1 billion (est.)||60%|
|Black Friday (2016)||All U.S. Retailers||$3.3 billion||22%|
|Cyber Monday (2016)||All U.S. Retailers||$3.5 billion||12%|
The fact that Prime Day revenue comes from only one retailer makes it quite impressive – especially considering the day falls in the heat of summer, rather than the holiday shopping season. The 60% growth figure is compelling as well, showing that Prime Day could eventually be the biggest U.S. shopping day of the year.
Singled out by Alibaba
While Amazon Prime Day favors comparably in the U.S. market, it doesn’t even close when looking at single-day events abroad. That’s because since 2009, Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba has used the Singles’ Day “holiday” to promote sales during the slow period leading up to the Lunar New Year season.
In 2016, Alibaba raked in a whopping $17.8 billion of revenue from Singles’ Day alone.
See the steady growth of the event below:
The concept of setting a global record for e-commerce sales on Singles’ Day sounds a bit strange to us Westerners, but the hype around Singles’ Day is no joke.
The holiday is now a full-on festival in China, with star-studded ceremonies kicking off the 24-hour sales period. For last year’s event, even Kobe Bryant, David and Victoria Beckham, and band OneRepublic made appearances to help ring it in.
A prime opportunity
During just the first five minutes of Singles’ Day in 2016, shoppers spent as much money ($1 billion) as Amazon’s entire 30-hour event in 2017.
While that may seem daunting to match, Jeff Bezos has built his tech empire from taking advantage of big opportunities such as this. As a result, it’s likely that Bezos and Amazon both see Singles’ Day as something to emulate – a full-blown festival that could ring in over $10 billion in revenue in one day for Amazon.
After all, it’s already been done once by Jack Ma, so why can’t it be done again in North America?


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Something Remarkable is Happening in Latin America
That’s a quote from a special report in the September 11, 2010 issue of The Economist which cites two main reasons for Latin America’s “renaissance.” The first is the growing appetite of China and India for the raw materials which are found throughout much of the region. And, second, the improvement in economic management that have tamed inflation and opened up credit. As a result, there’s what The Economist calls a “virtuous circle” where a fast-growing domestic market helps to balance soaring exports.
Most forecasts are predicting economic growth of more than 5% this year for the region overall. That means increasing numbers of Latin Americans rising above the poverty line and creating unparalleled opportunities for marketers as the middle class grows.
That’s important since, as a recent McKinsey Study reports, these new consumers are the ones that will give early winners in the consumer product sector a chance to gain lasting advantages. They went back and looked at what happened in Europe and the United States at similar points in their development: in 17 product categories, McKinsey found that the 1925 US market leader remained the number-one or number-two player for the rest of the century. These companies include Kraft Foods (Nabisco), in biscuits; Del Monte, in canned fruit; and Wrigley, in chewing gum.
The Economist says that if the region can maintain the growth of the past several years, it will double its per capita income by 2025, to an average of $22,000 per year. By then, Brazil should be locked in as the world’s fifth largest economy—behind #1 China and the United States, India and Japan. Fifteen years down the road, the article predicts that six countries in Latin America will have achieved “developed-nation” status—putting them on par with the income levels of Spain today.
So now is the time for multinational companies to stake their claim in Latin America and invest in building visibility and awareness for their brands, products and services.


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Music Gear News
Youngsters 'picking up more guitars and keyboards'
According to research carried out by Professor Sue Hallam and Dr Andrea Creech of the University of London, the musical taste of young people is being dictated to an extent by what they hear on television, radio and over the internet.
"The impact of technology has been profound, with some instruments becoming 'endangered' in schools while requests to play others, such as the electric guitar, electronic keyboards and kit drums, have increased dramatically," their report stated.
However, folk singer Dafydd Iwan told Wales Online that other musical instruments may yet regain their popularity as trends move in cycles and young people are often very responsive when exposed to different genres of music.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Hard Rock Cafe in Cardiif has teamed up with children's charity The Sparkle Appeal to encourage more people to donate their old musical instruments to the non-profit organisation's new centre.Posted on 18 Jul 2010 09:00 to category : Instruments News
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Have the chance to test drive the new Yamaha Montage synth and be in with a chance to win a reface at the Yamaha Montage event at Gear4music on 28.4.16.
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PreSonus is offering a free faderport with this limited-time offer.


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M&S shuts door to Isa savers
MARKS & SPENCER has closed its cash mini Isa to new savers. It now pays 4.75% following a 0.25% rise announced last Friday in line with its pledge to pay 0.5% over the Bank of England base rate - currently 4.25% - until April next year.
Savers who already have a cash mini Isa plan with the store can open another one for this tax year along with anyone who has already asked for, or received, an application form for this tax year.
Its Tessa-Only Isa paying the same rate remains open for those wanting to invest their Tessa money and switch from other providers.
Abbey has also pledged to pay 0.5% over base rates on its Postal Isa and will pay 4.85% on a minimum investment of £1 from June 1.
Intelligent Finance also features among the best buys pledging to pay at least 0.3% over base rate until next April. It currently pays 4.6% but has not yet announced an increase following last week's rise in Bank of England base rate.
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Video: Civilization VI – “First Look: Pirates Multiplayer Scenario”
Posted on 13 seconds ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch, Videos | 0 comments
2K and Firaxis have shared the latest video for Civilization VI showing off the new Pirates multiplayer scenario. Watch it below.
The Pirates multiplayer scenario will be offered as part of the October 2020 update coming to all Civilization VI players on October 22.
Voez version 1.10 out on Switch today, adds new tracks
Posted on 18 minutes ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
The rhythm game Voez is receiving yet another update on Switch. Flyhigh Works and Rayark have announced version 1.10, which is adding nine more songs to the game. That makes a total of 240 tracks to play through as of now.
Here’s the full lineup of the new additions:
Deemo version 1.7 announced for Switch, new music incoming
Posted on 26 minutes ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
A new 1.7 update is inbound for the Switch version of Deemo, Flyhigh Works and Rayark have announced. 21 songs will be added, bringing the total amount to 305.
Here’s the full lineup of upcoming tracks, along with a trailer:
Super Mario Bros. 35 – new Special Battle event announced for October 23
Posted on 36 minutes ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Super Mario Bros. 35 will soon be hosting its next Special Battle event. While active, the stages 3-2, 3-1, 4-2, 1-2, 2-1, 5-2, 3-4, and 1-1 will be featured. It’ll be up to you to acquire the most amount of coins.
Look for the new event to go live on October 23. It’ll last through October 26.
More: Super Mario Bros. 35
Arcade Archives Soccer coming to Switch this week
Posted on 39 minutes ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Hamster is bringing Arcade Archives Soccer to Switch this week, according to the latest issue of Famitsu. A worldwide release is planned for October 23.
Nintendo originally released Soccer for the arcades in 1985. A version was also released for the NES.
Pricing for Arcade Archives Soccer is set at $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29.
Brunswick Pro Billiards launch trailer
Posted on 3 hours ago by Ervin in News, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Billiards game Brunswick Pro Billiards is now available on the Switch eShop. Check out an overview and trailer below.
Mario Kart Tour – Halloween Tour Trailer
Posted on 4 hours ago by Ervin in Mobile, Videos | 0 comments
Mario Kart Tour’s Halloween Tour is now live, and it adds a few new things, including Halloween Peach and Mario racers, as well as the course Maple Treeway. Check out the official trailer below.
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Famitsu review scores – October 21, 2020
Posted on 6 hours ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Switch eShop | 0 comments
This week’s Famitsu review scores are as follows:
Dr. Morton joining Dr. Mario World
Posted on 7 hours ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 0 comments
Dr. Morton has been announced as the latest character addition for Dr. Mario World. The character goes live on October 21 at 11 PM PT / October 22 at 2 AM ET.
Aside from a new character, Dr. Mario World is also receiving a new batch of stages. A screenshot teasing levels to come can be found below.
More: Dr. Mario World
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Nintendo Dream scans
Posted on 8 hours ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Images, Switch | 0 comments
This month’s issue of Nintendo Dream features Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Although there isn’t too much new that’s shown, we have a number of screenshots and character art.
Here’s the full set:


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REDMOND, WA- Microsoft Corporations (NASDAQ: MSFT) The software giant has hinted the possibility of its Halo 5: Guardians Xbox video game to launch on the PC as well.
It’s been quite some time since a Halo title found its way to the PC console for fan gamers of the specific series. In fact, the last one was the Halo 2. Follow-ups such as the Halo: The Master Chief Collection was released exclusively for the Xbox One.
However, now it seems that we just might witness the new Halo 5: Guardians being also available for computer platforms. When asked general information on the new title and what its relation will be with the PC, Frank O’Conor, Halo franchise director, stated:
“You know, Microsoft has made a huge commitment to try and sort of… I think normalize the Windows experience across multiple platforms. You see the elements of Windows 10 are going to appear in the Xbox and Cortana and stuff like that. There is plenty of chance that Halo 5 could appear on the PC. Nothing to announce at this point, but it’s absolutely not out of the bounds of reason. We developed the game on an Intel platform. It wouldn’t be the hardest thing in the world to move it to PC and take advantage of PC stuff. But nothing I announce today on this chat.”
Hence, not only did Mr. Frank not deny anything, but he also made clear that Windows 10 is potentially a wide ecosystem that will include all of Microsoft’s platforms.
So in that frame, gamers will soon look forward to buying a game title which they will be able to play both on their Windows computer and their Xbox One, and Halo 5: Guardians may be part of all that. And everything will become clearer after the company releases its new dashboard update, which is due to roll out next month.
Will you be picking up Halo 5: Guardians for the PC, if it indeed becomes available? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: GamesRadar, Twitch
Featured image credit: TeamBeyond.net


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Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s fifth-largest PC brand, yesterday reported that its third-quarter net profit dropped 26 percent year-on-year due to one-time tax expenses amounting to NT$1.52 billion (US$51.37 million).
Net profit last quarter grew 4 percent to NT$4.94 billion from NT$4.76 billion the previous quarter, driven by increased shipments of new tablet and notebook products, Asustek said.
However, because of increased tax expenditures, its third-quarter profit declined by a double-digit percentage from NT$6.71 billion a year ago, according to the company’s financial report.
Earnings per share (EPS) during the July-to-September period were NT$6.65, compared with NT$6.3 in the previous quarter and NT$8.92 in the same period last year.
Asustek chief executive officer Jerry Shen (沈振來) told an investors’ conference that the company plans to launch new smartphones during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January and new Chromebook products sometime next quarter as the traditional PC market keeps contracting.
“We remain optimistic about the desktop and laptop market, but our priority is to make the company’s smartphone business turn a profit next year,” Asustek chief financial officer David Chang (張偉明) said.
With more retail stores in China and cooperation with more tier-one telecom operators globally, Asustek aims to grow its smartphone business from about 1 million units this year to 5 million units next year, Shen said.
As for the company’s new Chromebooks, Asustek has targeted students and teachers as potential consumers for its two new models, which are tentatively priced at US$199 for a 11.6-inch model and US$249 for a 13.3-inch version.
In addition, Asustek also plans to launch wearable devices during next year’s Computex tech fair in Taipei, Shen said, without elaborating.
Currently, laptops remain Asustek’s largest source of sales with a 57 percent contribution to the company’s product portfolio, followed by tablets with a 20 percent share and motherboards with a 13 percent share.
For this quarter, Asustek forecast its laptop shipments would grow 8.88 percent to 4.9 million units from last quarter, while tablet shipments would increase 2.85 percent to 3.6 million units and motherboard shipments would drop 3.63 percent to 5.3 million units.
The company forecast an operating margin of 4 or 5 percent this quarter, compared with 4.5 percent last quarter, and it expected the figure to remain above 4 percent next year.
Looking ahead, Asustek expected notebook shipments to grow 15 percent to 21 million units for the whole of next year and tablet shipments to rise by 7 percent to 13 million units if it gets orders for Google Inc’s third-generation Nexus 7 tablet.
“We are still in talks [about the Nexus 7 orders],” Shen said.
“Our long-term competitor is China’s Lenovo Group (聯想), and we will try hard to strengthen our presence in the Chinese market to secure the company’s business,” Chang said.
Shares of Asustek closed down 1.76 percent at NT$223 yesterday.
UNSTABLE? Downplaying geopolitical concerns, Mark Liu said that Taiwan can help usher in a bright, new era for the chip industry with its tech and manufacturing skills There are probably not many people who believe that Taiwan is unstable because of geopolitical factors, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said yesterday in Taipei in response to comments by Intel’s top executive. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger on Wednesday told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech summit in California that the US government should support a sustainable semiconductor supply chain in the US, in part because “Taiwan is not a stable place.” With China sending 27 military warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Sunday, Gelsinger asked: Does that “make you more comfortable or less if you’re now
Toyota Motor Corp is to launch an all-electric small sedan in China late next year, having turned to local partner BYD Co (比亞迪) for key technology to finally make an affordable yet roomy runaround, four sources said. Two of the four people with knowledge of the matter described the car as an electric holy grail for Toyota, which has struggled for years to come up with a small electric vehicle (EV) that is competitive on cost in China and does not compromise on comfort. The sources said the breakthrough was chiefly down to BYD’s less bulky lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) Blade batteries and its
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas A/S yesterday said it has invested NT$1 billion (US$36.07 million) in its local supply chain to supply components for its 9.5 megawatt (MW) V174 turbine. The project has helped created 1,500 jobs, including 150 jobs by Vestas itself, Vestas country manager Alex Robertson said. The turbine is to be used in four offshore wind farm projects for a total of 123 wind turbine generators, or 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of total capacity, he said. “This is localization like I’ve never seen before,” Robertson told a media briefing in Taipei. Vestas highlighted 10 Taiwanese supply chain partners that are
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and integrated circuit designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) are optimistic about the “metaverse” concept, expecting it to create major opportunities for the semiconductor industry. At a tech forum last week to commemorate former finance minister K.T. Lee (李國鼎), who has been dubbed the father of Taiwan’s economic miracle and who helped build Taiwan’s semiconductor sector in the second half of the 20th century, TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said he expects the metaverse to grow quickly in the next decade. Over the next 10 years, data computing power and transmission speeds are forecast to increase


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Google Wallet Removing NFC Loyalty, Gift Redemption (Aug. 12, 2013)
Aug. 12, 2013
Google is discontinuing NFC redemption for gift and loyalty cards stored in Google Wallet. Late last week, the company sent an email to users who had added gift or loyalty cards to their Wallet app, saying NFC redemption of such cards will end on Aug. 21. Cardholders have until that date to spend any remaining balances on the cards through the wallet. Physical loyalty and gift cards are not affected by the news, Google said, while NFC capability for payment cards also will continue to function as normal.
The move might not spell the end for NFC gift and loyalty on Google Wallet, however. “We’re working with retailers on other options for gift and loyalty card redemption within Google Wallet and are excited to share them with you soon,” the company said in its email to users.
This isn’t the first time Google Wallet has dropped a function. Last September, Google announced it was discontinuing the proprietary prepaid card that had been included with the wallet. At the time, the company cited a lack of need for the card since the app added the ability to use any payment card in the wallet. In May, Osama Bedier, who had been heading Google’s payment and wallet initiatives, left the company to pursue other interests. Google also faces a slew of new competitors entering the mobile payment arena, including the telecom joint venture Isis, which is set to roll out across the country, and retailer-led consortium MCX, which is at work developing its own mobile payment solution.